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EDFD462 Week 11

19th of May 2016

During our EDFD462 Week 11 classes, we participated in the Cybersmart Pre


Service Teacher Program. This program caused me to critically reflect childrens
misuse of the internet, and the serious implications this can have for teachers,
parents and students if ignored. Greg (the facilitator) presented several scenarios
within our tutorial, and the resulting impact on our class was that we became aware
of the legal ramifications that can be presented as teachers if we do not carefully
ensure that we take adequate care and responsibility for ensuring student safety.
This can become a greater issue as we seek to ensure student safety, as we must
ensure that we also consider and respect parental desires (especially considering
student use of underage Facebook).
There are several key issues when researching cybersafety for children. Firstly, it
was clear that students need to be aware of their own responsibilities and knowing
what to do when things go wrong (Daly, 2010, p. 43). It was made evident by Daly
(2010) that children often do not disclose issues that occur over the internet due to a
fear that they will be banned from the computer, internet or electronic device. This is
making cyberspace issues more secretive, and thus harder to solve or even find out.
Furthermore, this danger is greatened due to parental lack of understanding. Daly
(2010) states that parents often do not know what their child is actually doing on the
computer (p. 43), and often do not understand how they could be bullied by being
on it (p.43). This suggests that not only is there an issue with children and
cybersafety, but through a lack of parental understanding of what their children are
doing and how to make sure it is safe, the risk of children entering into unsafe
situations is heightened.
There are two important outcomes that have arisen from the Cybersmart Pre Service
Teacher Program and research surrounding the cybersafety. Firstly, it is important to
educate children on the risks of being on the internet, and to incorporate this within
the curriculum. One possibility is when teaching persuasive texts within English is to
incorporate online sites, and to talk about how people and advertising can also
manipulate and persuade us, and how to stay safe. Furthermore it is also important
to ensure parents are involved in cybersafety of students, as Greg made us aware
that the highest time for students to be on the internet is late hours of the night, when
they are in their own homes. This may require teachers to hold seminars and
workshops that teach parents about the dangers, sites they may visit and assist
parents with ensuring that their children remain safe.
Greg also made us aware of lesson plans that are available to teachers that can
assist with helping students become aware of the dangers on the internet. In future
placements I will actively look for opportunities to implement these in my teaching as
have now been made aware of the serious implications of technology and the
internet on children.

References
Daly, K. (2010). Being Cybersafety Aware. Screen Education, (58), 42-46.

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